Car-seat construction.



s. A. WALKER CAR SEAT CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 9,1918- Patented Apr. 15,1919.

2 SHEETSSHEET S. A. WALKER.

CAR SEAT CONSTRUCTION.

I APPLICATION FILED JULY 9,1918. r 1,301,019. Patented Apr.15,1919.-

. 2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

JamamZ'Er U E l? s AT P ENT OFFICE.

SHERIDAN A WALKER, 015 new YORK, 1v. Y., ASSIGNORTOTHE cAnsoncoMP nnY,on

- cHIcAG nLrnoIsA conrona'inonor ILLINOISQU GAR-SEAT cons'rnuc'rion.

Constructions, of which the following is a specification.

The present lnvention relates to the con struction' and arrangement'ofcertain portions of a car seat such as is commonly employed in railwaypassenger coaches, etc., and deals particularly with'certain portions ofthe mechanism comprising the means for permittlng the back of the seatto assume a reverse position with respect to the cush on. The objects ofthe invention are to provide members in the form of rods, which rodswill be of the character of a crank and will serve the double functionof connecting the mechanism 011 the wall and aisle sides of the seat, sothat one side of theback will not move in advance of the other, whichwould; cause a binding; and to also utilize these rods as an actuatingmeans for the rocker plates.

A further I object of the invention is to provide a connection betweenthese rods and certain links connected to the'back, wh ch will be of afreelyjdetachable character, eliminating'the use of bolts and othersimilarse'curing means now employed fon'connecting such parts, whichjexpedites their assembly.

Afurther object of the invention isto" provide a bearing for these linksintherocker plate, jthus insuring "a 7 connection between thes'e'plateswhich will'not'become loose and thereby result in aloose nd ir'npropmerit onthe part of the back. y

' furtherobject of the invention is toprovide a sifnple means 'forjourna ling the connettin rods to maintain them in proper relation to thelinks.

" "Th invention further; consists-"in the features of constructioncombination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In'the drawings:

, Figure 1' is'a side view'of a car'seat made er movep i o ofLettersllatient Patented Apr. 15 1919.

Application filed. July 9, 1918; Serial No. 244,066.

In the art to, which the present invention relates, carseats areconstructedwith movable backsfwhich can be swung from one edge of theseat cushion to the other, thus reversingthe position oftheseat inaccordance with the direction'of movementof the car. i In suchconstructions, it has'been customary to form a connection between theparts which enables the back to be moved, and whereby all portions ofthe back Will move in unisoin so that no matter'whether the, force formoving the b ack be applied to the back at the aisle side, thereof orthelwall side thereof, a free and easy'movei rient' will always bemaintained. M e I It has been; customary to jointhis connection to theother portions of the, mechanism by means of bolts, nuts, or similar.attaching devices. This, however, is adifiic'ultI'opera tion requiring"considerable e ria ctiti'ide 1n, getting the various openings in line,so that the bolts can readilybe inserted andfthe partsproperlyassembledl 7 It has also been cu stoinary'to. attac ng),

comprising a back 8," arms :9 "and "a" cushion 10, all of whichmayb'e'of any suitable and desired construction. At the aisleend oftheappliance, a plate 11 is employed, sef cured by" suitable. fasteningmeans 12' to the arm; and at the oppo'site'e'nd ofthe se'at is a similarplate '(not shown) attachedtothe wall of the car, which constitutes "thewall plate. The use of the foregoing plates: is well known in car seatconstructions;

Both at the wall and aisle sides of the seat are rocker plates; 13 'forthe purpose of changing the angular" disposition of the cushionwhen theback ismoved. The use of these rocker plates is well known, and althoughthe particular plate shown in the drawings is deemed to be'new andnovel, it does not have any bearing upon the subject matter of thepresent invention and will not are rods 17, which form aportion-of the 7subject matter of thepresent invention.

These rods extend from side to side of the seat and are formed with-anoffset 18 .located-just outside of the rocker plates, as will beunderstoodfrom i g. 6," although the offsets may be placed a greater orless dis- ,tance from the rocker plates if desired.

The rods are further formed with a bend 19 and a bend 20 adjacent theirends; and the portion 21 lying between said bends is, in theconstruction shown, of flattened formation, the function of which willherein-' after appear. The rods terminate in an end 22, about which theyturn;

Engaging with these rods are links 23, each of which is pivotallyconnected to a plate 24 joined to the seat back. The ends of each ofthese links is in the form of a slotted lug 25,having a slot 26 therein,the Walls of which overlie and engage the flattened portions. 21 of therods 17; and each of the links is formed with a base 27 which isjournaled in a recess 28 formed in the aisle or wall plates, dependingupon whether the links on the wall or aisle side are referred to. Bythis construction, the slotted ends of the links act in the manner of ajaw to engage with the rods in the manner of a wrench, so that when thelinks are moved, they will, by reason of their connection to the rods,turn the latter. 7

There is a similar arrangement of the plates and links for boththe, walland aisle sides of the seat, but since they both are exactly similar innature, only a detailed disclosure of the aisle side has been set forth.

It -will be understood fromthe drawings and the foregoing descriptionthat the connection described between the links and rods is of a freelydetachablecharacter and does not require the use of'bolts, rivets, orlike fastening devices, for the purpose of securing them together, andthereby eliminates the necessity of the careful assembly operation whichis required when bolts or similar devicesare used for this purpose.

The rods 17,.extending as they do from the aisle plate to the wall plateof the car seat, form a connection'between the operating parts on theaisle side and the operating parts on the wall side, so that such 'partsare moved completelyfin unison. Therefore,-

when the pressure is applied to move the back, it will make nodifference whether the.

opposite side through the medium of the. rods 17; and the seatrwill movein a proper manner to eliminate the binding or jamming which would occurif the aisle side moved" seen that these jaws contact and engagetheportions 21 of the arms, and thus there is provided an elongatedsurface connection between said lugs and the arms, so that the V lugshave a firm and efficient grip upon the rods, which grippage isaugmented by the flattening of the" portions 21.

When the.

back is moved, one end of the link 23 iscarried bythe plate 24 and theother end of the link turns about its seat in the recess 28 in the endplate. The links in so turning about their mounting in said recess willswingthe jaws 25 and by the grippage of said jaws on the portion 21 ofthe rods 17, said rods will be turned. i

These rods are offset as'described, at 18, so that they are of crankformation, and when turned, the portions 29'thereof, which lie in theslots 16 of the rocker plates, will exert a pressure against the wallsof the slots 16, causing the'plate to shift inac cordance with theswinging of the back. These rockerplates have-to do with the changingof'the angular disposition of the cushion, as is wellknown in the art.

:The rods as thusformed perform the double function of a connecting partbe-; tween the mechanism on the aisle and wall sides of the seat andconstitute cranks for the purpose of causing a movement of the mechanismover what, so: far as I 'am aware,

has existed in the. prior art.

By forming the lugs with the boss 27 and:

j ournaling .said boss directly in 'the end plates, a firmand efficientbearing'is providedfor the links, so that they do not become loose,causing a wabblymovement "of the back, which is undesirable, and,moreover, the hollow boss 27 provides a'joiirnal bearing for the end 22of the rods 17, thus making a very simple and compact mounting for boththe rods and the links.

Although the device has been described with considerable particularity,it is not deemed to be limited other than may be by the terms of theappendedclaims. 3 Iclaim: 1. In a car seat, the combination of a movableback, a pivoted link connectedtosaid back, said link being formed with aslot to provide a jaw member thereon, a rod in th form of a crank, saidjaw member engaging said rod to turn the same as the link is moved, acushion, rocker mechanism for changing the angular position of thecushion as the back is moved, and a connection between said rod androcker mechanism, substantially as described.

2. In a car seat, the combination of a movable back, a pivoted linkconnected to said back to permit movement thereof, a crank rod, an.oflset portion on said crank rod, a slotted jaw-like portion on the linkengaging the offset portion on the rod, whereby the rod is turned as thelink is moved, a cushion, rocker mechanism for changing the angle of thecushion as the back is moved, and a connection between said rod and saidrocker mechanism, substantially as described.

3. In a car seat, the combination of a movable back, a pivoted linkconnected to said back to permit movement thereof, a crank rod, anoffset flattened portion on said rod, a slotted jaw-like portion on saidlink engaging the ofiset portion on the rod, whereby the rod is rotatedas the link is moved, a cushion, rocker mechanism for changing the angleof the cushion as the back ismoved, and a connection between the rockermechanism and rod, substantially as described.

Copies ,of this patent may be obtained for five 4. In a car seat, thecombination of a movable back, pivoted links connected to said back topermit movement thereof, a portion of said. links being positioned uponeach side of the seat, a cushion, rocker mechanism for shifting theangle of the cushion as the back is moved, a rod in the form of a crank,each of said links being formed with a recess to receive an end of arod, each of said rod ends being configured to seat within the recesswith a non-rotating fit, said non-rotat ing fit causing the link to actto turn the rod as the links are moved, and said rod when moved servingto actuate the rocker mechanism, substantially as described.

5. In a car seat, the combination of a movable back, pivoted linksconnected to said back to permit movement thereof, a portion of saidlinks being positioned on each side of the seat, a crank rod, each linkbeing formed with a recess for receiving an end of a crank rod, a wallon said recess being of flat-faced formation, a complementary fiat faceon the rod end, and said flat faces cooperating to turn the rod as thelink is moved, a cushlon, rocker mechanism for changing the angle of thecushion as the back is moved, and an operative connection between saidrod and rocker mechanism, substantially as described.

SHERIDAN A. WALKER.

cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

